There were six of us girls and my mom. We'd get our pj's on early on the night of the pageant, fix lots of popcorn and we'd all sit on the floor around the tv with our notebooks, taking notes and picking our winners. It was a very big deal at our house.

Later, when I had girls, they'd watch it when they were real young, but as they became teens, I'd find that I watched it by myself with the dog by my side.

Tonight it was on tv, I stopped for a moment and watched it, then turned off the tv. I wonder if it was 'watching the show' that was so exciting, or was it 'the closeness of the family' while watching it? Sad how things change.